Of Acceptance and Admittance
by heidlebergchick
Summary: When Rowena Ravenclaw notices something wrong with the selection process, for those attending Hogwarts, she seeks to find all the magical children across Great Britain and Ireland. She will need the help of her fellow founders and a mighty Abraxan. No Warnings. Written for International Wizarding School Championships.


**Story Title: **Of Acceptance and Admittance  
**School:** Hogwarts  
**Theme: Founder's Era** \- Involving Founders, in the time of the founders. 950-1100 AD  
**Main Prompt: [**Object**]** \- Historical Artefact from you Era  
**Side Prompt: [**Setting**]** \- A Known Magical School  
**Side Prompt: [**Creature**]** \- Abraxan Horses  
**Year:** First Year  
**Rating:** K+  
**Beta: **Chloe  
**Word Count:** 3238  
**Warnings: AU**  
Author's Notes: The first wands were created B.C by the Ollivanders according to Pottermore, so by this time, the Founders definitely would have had wands and conventional spells.

I know not everyone is very knowledgeable about horses, so to help you understand, a whinny is a loud neigh, used as alerts and calls. A snort can show aggression or fear. A squeal is heard during courtship or for dominance between stallions. A nicker is a gentle reverberation at the back of the throat, it's a greeting.

I named the Basilisk after watching Dr Strange… ten points to those who love that actor! Mads FTW!

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**Of Acceptance and Admittance**

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It was 993 and Hogwarts opened its doors for the first time. Students could now openly study magic from competent teachers, in a safe environment. Gone were the days when a young witch or wizard could only learn from a relative or books alone.

It was a truly stunning castle in the Scottish Highlands, surrounded by forests, a lake and picturesque mountains. Herds of native creatures roamed the countryside. The tiny village of Hogsmeade began to grow and swell as it became a trade point for the new students and their families. New businesses moved in to sell everything and anything a witch or wizard might need, like potions ingredients, stationary, robes and even replacement wands.

Hogwarts itself was a sight to behold. It boasted huge grounds, a Quidditch pitch and extensive greenhouses. The Great Hall had an enchanted ceiling to reflect the sky outside, moving staircases and magical portraits of famous witches and wizards. The kitchen served three nutritious meals a day and students could rest at the end of a tough day of learning, in comfortable common rooms and dormitories.

As Rowena looked out over the student body, she found herself frowning instead of smiling. Their first years were of mixed ages because they felt it wrong to deprive education from any minor under the age of seventeen, that otherwise would have missed out in previous years. She still felt like the number was quite small.

There were one or two Muggle-borns and half-bloods attending because they were born either to a prominent family or a squib cast out from one. The main group was made up of Pure-blood heirs, and they had even had to send a squib home at the start of the year. There was definitely something wrong with their selection process, and Rowena knew they were missing a considerable amount of students. The question was, how would she _find _them?

* * *

This puzzle nagged at her for weeks until she decided to send her house elf to get copies of the records of Muggle and Magical birth records in Great Britain and Ireland. She frowned over the vast list of recorded Muggle births and had no idea how to sort the Muggle-borns from the ordinary Muggles. She had much the same problem looking at the magical records, as she had no idea if they were squibs or not.

Sequestering herself away in a little private tower at the top of a turret, she spent every available moment, researching the problem. For weeks she poured over every tome and scroll she could find until her ink ran out, her parchment was running low, and her eagle-owl quill was worn down to a stub. Groaning, she fervently wished she had a never-ending notebook and a self-inking quill.

"That's it!" she gasped, snapping her head up. "I need a book that can sense magic and a quill that writes the names in it!"

When she paused to consider her brilliant outburst, Rowena scrunched up her face. How exactly did one go about creating these kinds of magical objects? Not one to be deterred by such a question, Rowena found herself getting excited at the prospect of a complicated puzzle—it was what she lived for.

* * *

Back in her tower, Rowena flipped through her new blank, book from Scrivenshaft's, appreciating the scent of new leather. Running her fingers along its silver fastenings, and Hebridean Black hide; it was beautiful. Few people truly valued books the way she did. As beautiful as it was though, she knew it would eventually run out. If this book had to store the records of Hogwarts students for generations to come, she had to make sure it never ran out of pages.

So how would she achieve this? How did one make sure the capacity never exceed its space? Why, they made sure the space was bigger. She smiled as she looked at the book. Rowena decided she needed a library of space to be able to hold an infinite amount of names. Luckily, there was a charm to achieve this, and Rowena was a Charms Mistress. She drew her wand and pointed it at the dragonhide book.

"_Capacious extremis,_" she incanted.

A golden glow encompassed the book, and she knew she had created a book with enough pages to fill a library. The beauty of an Undetectable Extension Charm was it expanded the internal dimensions of a space without affecting its external dimensions. So, if anyone looked at it, it would appear to be an ordinary book, when in fact it was veritable archive by itself.

Satisfied with her first success, Rowena turned her attention to the quill.

* * *

Rowena closed her textbook in annoyance. She had no idea what type of feather would be best to enchant, as all the reference materials contradicted each other. She knew she needed a long, magical feather; they tended to accept magic more easily. The founder knew a selection of feathers would help her sort which was most suited to her purpose.

Making a small list of feathered creatures known to inhabit the nearby forests and mountains, Rowena looked at it critically. A plume from a Basilisk, a crown feather of a Hippogriff, a tail feather of an Augurey and a wing feather from an Abraxan. She hoped it would work, but she would need the help of her fellow founders to succeed.

She met with all three of them to explained how she felt about the current selection process which she felt had severe flaws. There were definitely hundreds, if not thousands of overlooked witches and wizards of school going age. She sought to create objects that would sense a young magical core and help her find them. They each agreed to help; she would have three of her four feathers in the next few days.

* * *

The following morning saw the raven-haired founder out on the sloping hills outside Hogsmeade. She was embarking on a feather quest of her own and her target today was the mighty Abraxan. According to Helga, they were very partial to the tall sweet grasses that grew up on the hills, and that was where she was currently headed.

As soon as she climbed the hill and looked out over the plains where the wild, winged horses were grazing, one particular horse immediately snapped his head up. As Rowena watched the massive animal paw the ground and the message was clear; she was a threat that couldn't be tolerated. Helga had warned her about this. A stallion would defend his herd and territory to death if he had to, so Rowena knew he would attack her if she approached his mares and foals. She had no wish to upset the giant equine.

The stallion whinnied, and the herd reacted instantly. The mares and foals banded together, shifting uneasily, reminding Rowena of frightened sheep. As they were a little further away than the stallion, the founder took another step closer. The giant palomino stamped his forelimb and squealed in a show of dominance. Rowena was prepared for this and remained still; she didn't back down, step back or break her gaze with the beast. He unfurled his wings a little, threw his head up in a sort of quick nod and snorted. It was a final warning.

Rowena curled her lip in annoyance, she hadn't wanted it to come to this, but she drew her wand. Pointing it at the winged creature, she was just about to cast a spell when several sharp whinnies pierced the air. Looking sharply to her right, Rowena's eyes widened in fear when she saw a lone Graphorn advancing on the herd—presumably looking for an easy kill.

The giant, purple-grey skinned predator, was an incredibly rare creature, with tentacle-like appendages on its mouth. Its humped back did nothing to slow down the colossal beast, as it loped closer to a vulnerable looking foal. While most of the mares took flight, others remained to protect their foals, too young to fly as they lacked the developed muscle to support their body weight.

This particular mother blocked the Graphorn from her young colt using her wings, displacing the air around her as she beat her wings in warning. The Graphorn lowered its head and snaked around her, trying to get to the shaking colt. The mare pranced around it as Rowena looked on helplessly. The hide of the Graphorn was so magically resistant, even more so than that of a dragon. She had no idea what to do.

The ground shook as the stallion charged. Unfurling his impressive wingspan as he galloped, the Graphorn roared at the approaching male. It tackled the stallion head-on, causing the horse to squeal and rear. His huge front hooves lashed out at the grey giant as he towered above it. The Graphorn bellowed as the hooves narrowly missed its eyes. Growling, it twisted around the palomino and headbutted the stallion's flank. The Abraxan screamed as it horns pierced his leg and bucked at the creatures head. The forceful kick struck the Graphorn right in the jaw and knocked it to the ground.

Instead of allowing it to get up, he spun quickly and began stamping his front hooves inches from its head. The Graphorn admitted defeat and lowered its head in submission. With a trumpeting snort and final beat of his mighty wings, the stallion forced it to retreat.

Rowena looked up in relief before frowning at the sight of the injured horse. The palomino staggered as the wound bled profusely. Rowena saw him roll his eyes as she approached and she hummed to let the male know she was not a threat. After a few moments, the Abraxan released a gentle nicker from the back of his throat and Rowena approached his shoulder. Running a soft hand along his back, she inspected the wound.

It was a deep piercing wound, but thankfully it didn't extend deeper than the muscle. Leaving her hand on his hip, Rowena reassured him, and he remained still, though he couldn't put weight on his back leg. She proceeded to heal him, waving her wand back and forth over the wound until it knit itself back together. As the pain began to recede, the stallion tested his healed hind leg.

Unfurling his giant wings, he twisted his muscular neck as if trying to scratch an itch. When he turned his head around again to face her, the stallion held out a feather. He held it out, and Rowena knew he was trying to thank her, so she nodded at the large palomino and watched him return to his herd. She had succeeded in her task and attained an Abraxan feather.

* * *

Rowena returned to her tower, still mulling over the morning's events. She was eager to begin working on her feather. As she sat, she gasped. On her desk sat three feathers, each with a note attached. As delight spread over her face, Rowena reached for the first feather and note. It was a deep crimson, but the hollow ridge dissecting the feather was a deep forest green. This was a plume from a Basilisk. The tiny slip of parchment showed Salazar's neat writing.

_'Lady Rowena,_

_Caecilius gifts you this feather, to help you succeed and find all those worthy of studying magic._

_Salazar'_

Rowena smiled in sincere gratitude. Salazar had actually done it, though he had been sceptical at first. She knew he cared in his own way.

The next feather was stunning with white and grey stripes. The white sections were as flawless as freshly fallen snow, but the grey parts ranged from pale to dark, with tiny strands of black throughout, reminding Rowena of a tortoiseshell cat. The colouring of that Hippogriff must have been truly gorgeous.

_'Rowena,_

_I just got this beauty this morning! I gave Greywing a good scratch, and this just fell out, it must have been loose. I wish you every success, dear!_

_Helga'_

The last feather was a dull, mousy green. It was quite long, and it curled at the tip, Rowena knew this had come from a mournful Augurey. The note was sprawled in long loopy writing, which she knew belonged to Godric.

_'Milady,_

_I waited for the rain and laid out some tasty flies. As soon as the Augurey swooped down to eat them, I plucked this for you. You should have heard the almighty screech he made. I hope this helps and I thank you for a pleasant hunting trip!_

_Godric'_

Rowena cringed for the poor Augurey, whose tail feather had been snatched so unceremoniously. It was such a Godric thing to do. She could just picture his face when he took it. At the sound of the bird's shriek, his eyes would have closed in a wince, but he'd be grinning like a mad man, she was sure of it. With the effort of her fellow founders, Rowena could now begin charming her quill in earnest.

The first group of charms she applied were for durability, self-inking and finally, she cast a Protean Charm linking the feather to the Muggle and Magical birth records. The beauty of a self-inking charm, meant as long as a pot of ink was lying around, a quill would be able to dip itself in ink to write. She used standard ink for all her tests.

To the founder's dismay, many failures became quickly apparent. As she scratched furiously with a standard quill, she was quite troubled with her first set of results. The Basilisk feather came from a such a powerfully magical creature; the feather rejected the Protean, durability and self-inking charm. While she could undoubtedly dip the quill in ink, it was time-consuming and required a person to be present for the charms to work. That just wouldn't do.

Moving on to her second feather, Rowena cast the same three charms on the Hippogriff feather. It happily accepted the durability charm as well as the self-inking charm. Spurred by her success, Rowena tentatively cast the final charm and crossed her fingers. The feather promptly burst into flames. Rowena sagged in her chair.

Next was the Augurey feather. The dull green feather twitched when she added the durability charm and glowed when she applied the Protean Charm. All seemed well as she cast the self-inking charm and the quill promptly jumped into the silver inkpot. Rowena clapped her hands in delight until she noticed the ink receding from the hollow bone of the feather. She groaned when she realised, Augurey feathers repelled ink.

She prayed the final feather wouldn't let her down. It was her last hope; it had to work. The snow-white Abraxan feather lay innocently on the table, unaware of its huge destiny. The disheartened founder raised her wand and cast the first two charms, consecutively. They took hold without issue, and when Rowena added the linking charm, the feather glowed brilliantly.

Rowena dared to hope that she now had a strong, self-inking quill, linked to all the birth records. Her Abraxan quill was complete.

* * *

The final phase of her plan was to make the book as sensitive to magic as possible. The new Ministry had a special ward built into wands, capable of detecting underage magic, but Rowena wanted to tweak the ward into recognising accidental magic, common in magical children. In preparation, the founder had created an accidental magical sensing ward.

Pointing her wand at the black, dragonhide book, she cast the sensitivity ward, and the book opened of its own accord. Its pages flipped right to left in a dramatic fashion; it was as if a tornado had swept through the tiny room. Rowena struggled to hold on to her wand, and the book seemed to pull on her magic with everything it had. The pages glowed a radiant gold colour until the founder felt herself becoming drained. The pull on her magic began to lessen, and Rowena realised, the surge of magic required to ward the book had dramatically increased due to placing an undetectable extension charm on it. She just had to ride it out.

Rowena gasped when the gold light around the book, began to spill from the blank pages onto the desk. The magic flashed like lightning, until her stationary, the floor and the walls were coated in the golden light. It was so bright, Rowena was forced to shield her eyes. When the ground began to tremble, she gasped as she finally understood what was happening. The book was linking itself to the wards of Hogwarts! As the wards were powered by the powerful ambient magic deep in the earth below the castle, these ley lines were now also powering the ward on the book, and this tiny room was the focus of the wards power. If the book were ever taken out of this room, the ward would shatter, and the magic would be undone.

Rowena's eyes widened at the enormous consequences of what was happening. Ley lines spanned the globe as lines of powerful energies below the surface. When lines intersected, ambient magical power flowed into these sites. Hogwarts itself was built on such an intersection, and now the book would be able to sense every instance of accidental magic in all of Great Britain and Ireland. Every single registered or unregistered birth would soon be felt by its enchanted pages. She couldn't believe it.

The spell finally ended, and Rowena slumped over her desk in exhaustion. Pure willpower allowed her to look upon her completed creations. The book had closed its pages and now rested calmly on the desk as if nothing had happened. The quill, however, was a bundle to energy, bathed silver from the residual magic it had been caught in. It wiggled enthusiastically in its silver inkpot and Rowena's eyes widened. _It wanted to write a name!_

As the book slowly opened and landed on a blank page, she glanced around rapidly for some ink to top up the inkwell. Her exhaustion slowed her down, and she didn't reach the ink in time, as the quill jumped from its spot and began scratching out a name in the book. Rowena's eyebrows shot up when they saw the silvery letters appear on the first page of the book and she realised the quill would never need ink. It was copying the magical signature of the child, further evidence of its ability to sense witches and wizards across the isles. She peered down in wonder at the name.

_Amanda Collins, 34 Bedford Row, Lavenham, Suffolk._

She'd done it! Hogwarts now had a foolproof system to help it find and select every witch or wizard born in Great Britain or Ireland. The magical signature of the child would be picked up by the book, upon their first bout of accidental magic and then the quill could write their name, imprinted by magic. It would prevent those entering under false names, or addresses. The book would always know, and it fell to the book to decide who would be admitted to attend Hogwarts.

She would name the set, the Quill of Acceptance and the Book of Admittance. Now all Rowena had to do to complete her task, was establish an owlery to deliver the Hogwarts Letters. As the quill continued to scratch away in the book, Rowena was lulled to sleep by the rhythmic sound. She was asleep before her head touched the desk. Her work was done.

* * *

Thank you for reading!


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